Hamm v. Hazelwood

OPINION BY JUSTICE D. ARTHUR KELSEY

The circuit court declared void a provision in a real property deed that sought to create a contingent reversionary interest in the grantor and her heirs. The beneficiary of that interest, Edward L. Hamm, Jr., argues on appeal that the provision, known as a possibility of reverter at common law, lawfully vested him with the reversionary interest. We agree and, thus, reverse the court's holding to the contrary.

I

In 1989, Dorothy Bigelow Hamm executed and recorded a deed of gift transferring her one-half interest in a parcel of property to her sister, Melba…